Borne of Four

Today I was surprised by how much I appreciated our Sunday School lesson about Jesus' miracles in the early chapters of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Having heard the stories so many times over the years, I didn't expect anything particularly new or good, but it was really quite sweet.  One of my favorites is the story of the healing of the centurion's servant in Luke 7 (and Matthew 8), but today I was struck very much by the story of the man healed of a "palsy" after being lowered through a roof.

In many of the miraculous healings, individuals approached Jesus and asked for healing for themselves or on behalf of loved ones, but in this case, the person was not able to.  Instead, as we read in Mark 2:3, he was brought by others: "And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four."

We don't know much at all about these four people.  We can assume that they cared a lot about this man, but I think it's more than that.  I imagine that there must have been quite a bit of effort involved, some convincing, and some coordination and ingenuity in order to get a paralyzed person up onto a roof and then lower him down through it.  Their efforts definitely demonstrated faith, and it was their faith that brought about the miracle; see verse 5 where Jesus responded "when [He] saw their faith".

Of course we should seek our own blessings from God.  We've been instructed many times to ask for those things that we need.  I think, though, that sometimes we're unable to do so or perhaps, for some reason or another, not in the best position to seek and receive blessings by our own faith.  Maybe in those cases we need to be "borne of four", or maybe more people than that, who devote time and energy to helping us.

Conversely, I truly believe that sometimes we need to be among the four.  There are often people nearby who are in need.  Sometimes they aren't able to do everything they need; at other times, maybe they can--strictly speaking--but in a practical sense they might not receive blessings if not for our efforts on their behalf.

Last thoughts for now:
I'm grateful for the people have have metaphorically carried me at times in the past.  I'm also grateful for the opportunities I've had to serve others and bring them to blessings of the Gospel.  I especially hope that I will yet have many occasions in which I can be among the "four".